How To Fill Cinema Seats

It's called a Cinetransformer and it is used to test market films by studios across the U.S. and in other countries.

Cinema admissions are static. The record-breaking box-office of last year was due solely to increased ticket pricing.  Steady-state tickets sales are due to a combination of many so-so movies being released, coupled with internet streaming options for consumers. In answer, the studios are trying to discover new ways to get moviegoers back into cinemas and with more frequency.

Both Warner Bros. and Fox Pictures are using mobile marketing (the Cinetransformer) to find out exactly what people want when they go to the cinema.

The Cinetransformer is a 53 foot long expandable trailer that converts into a complete mobile cinema, providing the perfect venue to hold cinema attendance experiments and find out what marketing techniques work best when promoting a film.

Marketing a movie today requires the very smart use of both traditional marketing tools, such as posters, TV ads, in-cinema movie trailers, etc., and on-line social media outlets. It's the social media platforms that are becoming the more important marketing tool as news of a film's quality (or lack thereof) spreads like wild-fire over the internet.

CineTransformer ready to screen movie

Inside view

Using the Cinetransformer, a pre-release movie is screened several times a day to a variety of audiences.  The Cinetransformer can screen a movie in 2D, 3D, or 4D format and then query viewers on the good and bad features of the film. The goal being two-fold: instant feedback from the audiences and the added benefit of audiences ready and willing to 'promote' the film via their Facebook, Twitter, or other social outlet. If the film receives overall bad reviews the studio may cancel its release, or go back and change what the test audiences stated they didn't like about the movie.

The Cinetransformer has been used in the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil, and has, thus far, worked out very well for the studios. The impact of social media platforms in promoting a movie can not be over-stated. It is surpassing traditional marketing techniques and might very well become the preferred platform for marketing movies in the future.

Best
Jim